Although many of us recognize the importance of making small changes at work to contribute to sustainability, we sometimes overlook the potential value in sustainability to create new core products or processes at our companies. Moreover, we often lack the skills to transform these individual actions into a corporate-wide sustainability culture. As a result, companies can miss out on areas of…
This month, Collective Responsibility was invited to take part in a supplier CSR forum with Groupe Rocher, the French cosmetics firm. An event where our founder, Rich Brubaker, spoke about CSR trends in China, and where Charlie Mathews, Director of Corporate Advisory, moderated a workshop. Suppliers from across China and South Korea attended, with a diverse range of knowledge and application of s…
Over the last month, we brought in eight industry experts to five leading Chinese universities across Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang, where they shared their experiences and had discussions with over 160 students on a variety of sustainability-related topics. At East China Normal University thirty Bachelor, Master and Ph.D. students majoring in environmental engineering joined a discussion with s…
This Wednesday, Richard Brubaker, Founder of Collective Responsibility, was invited to give a presentation to students at Hopkins-Nanjing Center (HNC), where he addressed the importance of sustainability, leadership, and innovation Kicking off his presentation with an explanation of how he understands sustainability, and why sustainability is never really about “saving the polar bears”, he spen…
This Thursday, we continued our Sustainability Speech Series by hosting a talk on the topic of “Foreign enterprises: Building Sustainability Strategies in China” at Shanghai University. To help students gain a better understanding about the topic, we invited Charis Yang，General Manager of Vendor Compliance & Sustainability at Li & Fung; Super Wang, Supply Chain Sustainability Manager fo…
Joined by 90 MBA students from Kenan-Flagler Business School, University of Northern Carolina who came to Shanghai this September for their summer immersion program, Richard Brubaker, Managing Director of Collective Responsibility and Visiting Professor of Sustainability, from the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS), was invited to speak on sustainability in China and share his 15 y…
In the first two weeks of June, through the Beyond Business As Usual platform, we organized and hosted six events with Erin Meezan, Vice President of Sustainability for Interface. As one of the corporate executives, and a key reason for why the firm is now a firm recognized leader for their efforts to build a business with a core of sustainability, I came away with a deep appreciation for the effo…
If there is one thing that teaching a project-based course to 205 MBA students in China, it is that we have to recalibrate how students are engaged, incubated, and engaged, and in this presentation, I spend 30 minutes speaking to how I have attempted (and at times succeed) in doing this. 5 years into this process now, for me the greatest lessons that I myself have learned are: 1. Sustainabilit…
The 5.12.08 Sichuan earthquake that left 90,000+ Chinese dead was seen by many as a turning point in philanthropy. It was an event that brought the country together in a way that I have not seen at any other time in my 12+ years here, and it was a time when the best of China showed through as the seeds for a culture of philanthropy were planted. Part of this experience (for me), was defined by…
Sustainability isn't for everyone, and even in the firms that we have come to recognize as leaders, there are internal struggles over who is going to own what program and plan of action. This is particularity true in firms who are adding on top of, versus integrating, sustainability to the existing responsibilities of the individual (or department), and it is usually that I find myself often takin…
When speaking in front of large groups, particularly those where future leaders are in the room, I often go out of my way to point out that no CEO on the planet is going to recalibrate their firm to save the polar bears. Even if the, as many would, feel strongly that they are an important icon. And it is not because they don't care, or that they are evil. It is just a simple matter of fact tha…
When speaking about sustainability, I often revert to a patter of addressing the what, why, who, and the how much. What are the problems. Why these problems are important Who will is responsible for addressing them How much it will cost And without exception, I can carry a crowd of MBAs, EMBS, EVPs, or CEOs, through the first two because with a couple of tweaks to my pitch I can c…
Last week, I returned to speak for the fourth time at the China Supply Chain Council on an issue I have spent a lot of time on, recalibrating supply chains. Focused on the impact that local issues and stakeholders are going to have on the supply chain’s of many operating in China,the overarching goal of the presentation was to highlight opportunities for firms to strengthen current systems as wel…
When looking to develop CSR programs that engage their employee base and the community at the same time, fewer programs are of interest than a day out volunteering at a school, elderly center, or school. It is an event that should have clear exceptions for the volunteer and the community partner, is more often than not meant to be fun (as a primarily channel for impact), and afterwards everyone…
Last week while debating the NEED for government action in the US on car efficiency as part of their energy policy, a good friend of mine wrote the following: You are worried about externalities? The consequences of using fossils fuels is an almost unimaginable improvement in the quality life for the average person. The average American today lives a better than the richest Medieval Kings of Euro…
